Read Below for our exclusive with Darryl Rahn and listen the the premiere of his latest single “First” after the interview.
You have released a wide array of music through the years. What is your musical background? At what age did you first learn an instrument?
I was lucky to have parents who always played great music in the car when I was growing up (Beatles, Billy Joel, Genesis, to name a few) so I found an interest in it pretty early. Then when I was in fifth grade, a guest speaker came to our history class to play songs about the Dust Bowl, and I couldn’t get over how beautiful the acoustic guitar sounded. Probably a week after that, my dad signed me up for lessons and I’ve just been at it ever since. I didn’t truly start focusing on writing until I was 14 or so, but it was always what I saw myself doing.
Do you ever collaborate with any other groups or is it solely Darryl Rahn?
Oh yeah, I’ve written with a bunch of other people and have played in a few friends’ bands, but this project is just me. I really like stepping outside of it though whenever I get the opportunity.
What are you thoughts on the modern music industry? Does the current state of a singles only environment work for or hinder you?
I try not to think about it too much when writing, but after the fact it’s definitely bummed me out on occasion. I totally get why it’s going in the direction it is, but I also have faith that there are people like me out there who will sit down and really digest an album. I won’t stop making them anytime soon.
If you could have dinner with any musician living or dead who would it be?
Gregory Alan Isakov. I feel like he’s a great cook.
You have an album coming soon. Tell us about it.
I do! It’s called Making Strangers, it’s 10 songs, and I’m really excited about it. It was written over the course of about six months, and was recorded over one week at Free Lunch, a studio run by my old friend Seth Nathan. Lyrically, it digs a bit deeper than my previous releases, and I feel like I learned a lot more about myself through these songs and the process.
